Back In Time
by Lacica
Summary: A Next Generation time travel fic. The kids find a broken Time-Turner and get sent back to June 1995, when Harry's still competing in the Triwizard Tournament. With their future knowledge, can they change anything?
1. Broken Time-Turners

**Okay, I have a confession, this story has been stolen... from myself. I have an uncomplete, three-chaptered version of this story posted on another account. Due to life and such, I didn't have the time to continue it, and now that I have I seem to have forgotten my email, therefore I could not continue it there, so I've had to create another account and begin posting again. I'm only saying this just in case you read the original one (I will be very surprised if you did) and accuse me of stealing from myself. Since the original three chapters were written some six months ago, I have gone through and tweaked some things, but nothing major. Anyway, feel free to let me know whether you liked it or hated it.**

* * *

**Chapter One: Broken Time-Turners**

_I need a place to hide something. I need a place to hide something. I need a place to hide something. _The third time James walked past the wall on the seventh floor corridor opposite the statue of Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach troll ballet, a door materialised. He thrust it open, ushering Fred inside, whose arms were laden with boxes emblazoned with _WWW._

'I can't believe Parkinson grassed on us,' James huffed, as the door swung shut behind them.

Noah Parkinson was a sixth year Slytherin who, all because of one tiny prank where James and Fred had turned his robes bright fuchsia had it out for the entire Potter and Weasley clan. Honestly, it was only _fuchsia. _It could have been worse, they could have made their entire robes vanish, which he and Fred had actually been planning until their cousin Louis, who happened to overhear their plans, had suggested that unless they were masochistic enough to want to gouge their own eyes out, they should not under any circumstances go ahead with that plan. Still, James and Fred were in vehement agreement that fuchsia was a _lovely _colour on the Slytherins. It had really brought out their eyes. It wasn't just their robes either; they had done it to all of the houses but one (rule 1. never prank your own house). While the Slytherins were looking fabulous in fuchsia the Hufflepuffs looked like someone had cast a Bat-Bogey Hex on each of them as their usual black and yellow coloured robes had been turned an extremely disgusting shade of green, and the Ravenclaws sported robes of neon orange. It had really brightened up the castle.

However, not pranking their own house had truly been a rookie mistake. Everyone knew then that the culprit(s) were in Gryffindor, and it wasn't even two minutes before all fingers pointed to James and Fred. They had done it, but that wasn't the point, and ever since then Parkinson, and pretty much every single Slytherin, seemed to have a dislike for the Potters and Weasleys.

'He's a git,' Fred remarked, sounding annoyed. James couldn't blame him there; it was his dad's things that were going to be destroyed if they got caught with them again.

'He's a humongous git,' James agreed, picking up random items and inspecting them as Fred arranged the boxes in his arms into a neat pile on the ground. 'It was just a harmless prank. It wasn't like they didn't have the antidote either. Did you see his face, though?'

Fred snorted. 'It was priceless. Definitely worth the months detention we got for it.'

James had to agree with that. It wasn't that they enjoyed detention, or the angry letters from home they received from their mothers (in all honestly, the letters scared James more than whatever detentions the teachers decided to hand them, and that included cleaning bed pans, which, James had to admit, was one of _the_ most disgusting things he had ever had to do in his life), but when Noah Parkinson spewed everywhere, then fainted right into the puddle of his own vomit, it really was priceless to watch. At one point, James was laughing so much he thought he was going to break a rib. As soon as Parkinson had been taken to the Hospital Wing, he had been given the antidote, which the Hospital Wing had a supply of for situations like that. As soon as Parkinson woke up and stopped vomiting, he had immediately grassed on them, even though he had no solid proof that it had been either James or Fred who had slipped a Puking Pastille and Fainting Fancy into his food. It could have been _anyone _with a supply, which pretty much every single student at Hogwarts had, despite them being banned from the school.

'Lucky for us this room still works after the fire Dad told us about,' James commented as he held up a gold necklace he had just found lying on top of one of the dusty boxes. He held it up to get a better look at it. Maybe he could give it to Lily for Christmas...

'It must be the magic of the -' A loud gasp from James cut Fred off mid-sentence. He turned around to face his cousin. 'What's the matter? What's that?'

A grin slowly spread across James's face, his eyes shining with excitement. 'It's a Time-Turner.'

* * *

Ten minutes later found James and Fred in the middle of the common room, both doubled over, their hands on their kness, as they fought to catch their breath. Once they'd found the Time-Turner, they had raced as fast as they could to the common room, excitement bubbling inside them, only to be found by Filch, who had been the caretaker, albeit a rather bad one, when their parents had been in school. Honestly, James thought he should have been dead by now, he was that old. Because of their unfortunate run in with the grisly caretaker, both he and Fred had been forced to take a detour down to the next floor.

Having had various members of the Potters and Weasleys in Hogwarts for several years now, the residents of Gryffindor tower soon got accustomed to these sorts of events occurring regularly, therefore they weren't bothered by the disruption.

'Potters and Weasleys,' James yelled as soon as he could, his chest still heaving from the exertion. He was terribly out of shape. 'Everyone here? Good. Right, family meeting now.'

The other six members of the Potter and Weasley clan exchanged puzzled glances with each other, all of them wondering what it could possibly be about, and then deciding that they were probably better off not knowing when James and Fred were concerned. Nevertheless, the six of them followed the pair up to the fifth year boys dormitory.

When the door was shut and privacy spells erected (whenever they held meetings like this, Callum Hiddlestone, a Muggle-born in Albus and Rose's year, had the habit of eavesdropping on them, despite being hexed on several different occasions by various members of the large clan, though mostly James and Fred, and occasionally Rose), Rose turned to the two boys. 'What is this about, then?'

Pausing for dramatic effect, much to their family's irritation, James and Fred took a step into the middle, both sporting wide smirks.

'We've found something,' Fred announced, gesturing to himself and Fred.

Lily arched a ginger eyebrow. 'And?'

'It's not something stupid, is it?' Hugo questioned with a sigh. James was slightly offended at this; none of the things he and Fred had ever found had ever been stupid, unless they counted the stick James found in the Burrow when he was six, thinking it was the Elder Wand from their parents stories. In James' defence, he had been six-years-old. How was he to know that it was just an ordinary stick? 'I mean, I found a rock today out by the lake but I didn't feel the need to hold a family meeting about it.'

Albus coughed to hide his laughter as James and Fred glared at the two of them. None of them had any faith in him or Fred.

Rolling his eyes, James shoved his hand in his pocket, emptying its contents all over Fred's bed, until he found what he was looking for. He held up the gold Time-Turner for them all to see. The sunlight beaming in through the open curtains reflected off the gold item, causing those facing it to shield their eyes slightly.

'That's a Time-Turner,' Rose stated unnecessarily, her eyes widening. She rounded on the two boys, a stern look on her face that made her look scarily like her mother. 'Where did you get it from? You better not have done something that'll get you expelled; you already have a months worth of detentions for that stunt you pulled on Noah Parkinson! The parents are already going to go mental over that.'

Fred gasped loudly, plastering a look of mock-terror on his face. 'Oh no, not the parents! Someone save us!' He rolled his eyes. 'Rosie, we found it fair and square. Finders keepers and all that, right?'

'Where _did_ you get it from?' Albus asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. James shook his head; there was no faith whatsoever in him. It wasn't as though they stole it from someone's bedside cabinet. It was in the Room of Requirement, probably been there for a while, so it wasn't stealing... Well it was, but James highly doubted anyone was going to miss it otherwise they never would have left it there for anyone to take in the first place.

'Well...' James began rocking backward and forward on the heels of his feet, attempting his best innocent expression. 'We may have found it _intheroomofrequirement_ -'

'In English, please,' Lucy demanded impatiently.

'Room of Requirement,' Fred drawled out slowly as though he were talking to a five-year-old. With his eyes shining with excitement, he added, 'So, where shall we go? We have four years to choose from, so choose wisely.'

'What were you doing in the Room of Requirement?' Albus inquired.

'Just full of questions today, aren't you?' Fred muttered, more to himself than anyone in particular. 'We were hiding the items from Dad's shop, if you must know.'

'Now, where to, guys?' James asked, grinning.

'We can't use this!' Rose burst out, lunging forward to grab the Time-Turner from James but he was quicker and much taller than she was. He raised his arm higher out of her each. 'James!'

'Like Fred said it's ours; finders keepers.'

'That doesn't mean you can keep it!' Rose argued, her voice rising. 'Time-Turner's aren't even legal to use unless given permission from the Ministry of Magic, and I seriously doubt they've given you two morons permission to go jumping through time!'

'Ouch,' said Fred, rubbing his chest. 'That hurt, Rosie.'

'You can't use it!' Rose said indignantly. 'It's against the law. You should hand it in.'

'Why?' James demanded angrily. 'Think of what we could do with it?'

'Exactly! Wizards who mess with time risk so much. Imagine if you kill your past self -'

'That won't happen,' James interrupted.

Rose rolled her eyes. 'And what makes you so sure?'

'Because I'm not stupid enough to do that -' Rose let out a loud snort, causing James to glare at her. 'I'm not! I actually like living, you know. I wouldn't do anything to ruin that.'

'It's not a game to play with time, James,' Rose hissed.

'Don't be such a spoilsport, Rosie, you always ruin everything,' James shot out fiercely. No matter what they did, Rose always had to ruin everything; she was such a stickler for the rules. Her idea of fun was spending time in the library. To James, and most people, that wasn't fun.

Rose opened her mouth to retaliate, taking a step towards her cousin, but Al got there first, both hands outstretched to keep the pair at bay.

'Both of you stop it,' he commanded. He turned to James and Fred. 'Rose is right - it is against the law. Aunt Hermione works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, remember?'

'Exactly!' Rose looked triumphant. 'She can get you arrested if you use it!'

'Nah, she wouldn't,' Fred remarked lazily.

'Yeah,' James agreed fervently. 'She'd never grass up her family.' As much as Aunt Hermione was similar to Rose where rules were concerned, she would never do anything to get a member of her family arrested. Not only had all the parents taught their children that family is the most important thing, but there was also the fact that they were all famous; none of them would subject themselves to the humiliation that a member of their family had broken the law.

'Erm, not to burst anyone's bubble or anything, but it's broken.'

Fred rounded on Louis. 'How do you know that?'

'Here.' Louis failed to hide his amusement as he pointed at the button on the side. 'See?' Louis pressed the button, causing the entire room to spin and shake violently, knocking them all to the ground.

**TBC...**


	2. Blast from the Past

**Please feel free to let me know whether you loved it or hated it. **

* * *

**Chapter Two: Blast to the Past**

Rose had never been so terrified in her life. Sure she'd had those heart-stopping moments of terror when she spotted a spider scuttling across the carpet, or when she was first learning to fly and would descend too quickly she thought she was going to slip off and meet her untimely death. But this - this was indescribable terror.

The room was spinning, trembling violently like an earthquake. Rose felt sick to her stomach. If there was one thing Rose hated it was being spun around and it had all started when she was nine. While their parents had been celebrating their wedding anniversary, Rose and Hugo had gone to stay the weekend with their Muggle grandparents. After much begging on their part, Rose and Hugo had finally managed to convince their grandparents to take them to the fairground around the corner, the one they used to take their mother to when she was a young girl. Rose had heard stories about it, seen pictures of it, and really wanted to go. Finally she had; she'd never been so excited before. Then came the time for the Waltzer, the ride she had been most excited for, since she thought it made her a big girl to go on it. The ride hadn't even been going for thirty seconds before Rose threw up the contents in her stomach, spraying Hugo with vomit, which he claimed changed his life forever. Rose thought he was being a tad bit dramatic, which wasn't entirely unusual for Hugo.  
With one final jolt, causing Rose to launch forward with such force that she slammed into the floor head first, the room stopped spinning, and her stomach stopped squirming.

'Ow,' Louis groaned somewhere from Rose's left.

'Is everyone all right?' Lucy asked calmly. To this day, it amazed Rose just how calm Lucy could be in any situation, even one like this when God only knows what had just happened to them, but that was how Lucy was. Unlike most of their family (and Rose had to admit she was one of them), Lucy wasn't one to panic. It didn't matter what the situation was, whether it was simply revising for exams or accidentally getting lost in London at the age of eight, Lucy would never lose her head (luckily, they had found her sitting on the grass in Hyde Park, eating her cheese sandwiches as if nothing had happened). It was something Rose greatly admired in her.

'Ask me again tomorrow,' James grunted. 'Some of the swelling might have gone down then...'

'W-what happened?' Lily asked fearfully.

'I'm not sure,' Al murmured, inching closer to his little sister.

'It felt like - like an earthquake,' said Roxy uncertainly.

With her bones protesting from the sudden movement, Rose pushed herself off the ground, groaning as she did so. Looking around, she saw her brother and cousins all looking just as terrified as she felt, a few of them nursing injuries; Hugo was rubbing his forehead where an angry red mark had starting to form, no doubt from whacking his head on the hard floor of the dormitory from the sudden jolt, just as Rose had done; Al was using his right arm to support his left, rubbing his elbow; Roxanne was holding her ankle, grimacing at the touch. The others, while looking incredibly shaken, looked all right.

'It might be the concussion I think I've got, but does this room look different than it did five minutes ago?' Fred asked, looking baffled as he surveyed the room. He went over to the bed - his bed - and picked up the book on his cabinet. He held it up so that everyone could see the title: Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties. 'This, for example - this is not mine. I've never even seen this before.'

'I'm betting you've never even see a -

'W-who are you?' a timid voice said from behind them, cutting off what Roxy had been saying. All nine of them turned around to face the dormitory door, which was wide open, revealing a short, round-faced boy who looked eerily similar to their Herbology Professor, who weighed a few pounds heavier. A part of Rose's brain was trying to tell her this was impossible, but here was the proof right in front of her. But how?

'Guys,' James said slowly, 'is that who I think that is?' All of them had seen the photos of their parents and their friends during their time at Hogwarts.

'Uh-huh,' Al confirmed, nodding his head; his eyes were wide and he wasn't blinking for fear of missing something, as though what he was seeing wasn't real. Rose thought it looked quite painful to go so long without blinking; she couldn't go two seconds without her eyes burning.

'I'm confused,' Lily piped up.

'Me too,' said Roxy, rounding on Louis fiercely. 'Just what did you do?'

Louis crossed his arms over his chest. 'Nothing,' he said defiantly.

'You must have done. Look,' James gestured to the bewildered-looking Neville Longbottom. 'If you did nothing, then how is he here, or how are we here, or whatever the hell happened?'

'You wanted to use it,' Louis reminded him.

'Yeah, but up to four years in the past, not this much!'

'In three?' Rose knew exactly what Fred meant.

'No.' Lucy's voice was sharp and Rose could hear a crack in her calm facade, which did nothing at all to help her. Rose's heart began sprinting in anticipation. '_Now_!'

As though the dormitory was on fire, all nine of them stampeded towards the door. Rose had expected her Professor (it was still weird to think of him like that when he looked her age) to move out of the way, but he didn't; he stood frozen to the spot, watching them with wide eyes that held what Rose recognised as fear and confusion, his mouth was hanging open so much that Rose could see his uvula hanging down. She winced, momentarily closing her eyes, as Fred hurtled right into poor Neville, knocking him to the ground, and leaping over him, his legs narrowly missing Neville's face, which he was attempting to shield with his arms.

'Sorry,' Fred shouted sheepishly over his shoulder as he continued sprinting down the corridor.

'Heads down,' Lucy shouted at them as they entered the crowded Gryffindor common room. It was just their luck that they had an audience. If they were where Rose thought they were then they were going to be in big trouble if anyone found out about them - their true identities, that is. They'd already been seen by Neville and an entire common room.

Following Lucy and Fred, who seemed to be in the lead, they dashed across the common room, through the portrait hole, down the corridor, past several annoyed students, who didn't seem to appreciate James and Fred pushing past them in their haste to get to the empty corridor, right across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet, where the entrance to the Room of Requirement was. Rose could have sighed with relief if she wasn't afraid of being caught in those crucial moments where James walked back and forth thrice in front of the empty wall. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion to Rose; James appeared to be taking a step each minute. It was making her more nervous.

'Hurry!' Rose's voice was bordering on hysterical. If there was one thing her mother had taught her about time travel, it was that they couldn't allow themselves to be seen... and they had. It was bad enough that Neville had seen them, but an entire common room had watched as nine strangers ran wildly through, their heads bowed. Knowing how the school worked, Rose would not be surprised if everyone knew about them by now.

The door finally appeared and they all raced inside, breathing heavily as though they had just ran a marathon. When the door shut behind Louis, Rose sank down to the ground, clutching at her chest, willing for her heart to slow down.

'Well that was fun,' Fred gasped, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath.

'It was your idea,' Roxy reminded him. 'You and James. You were the two that found it and the ones who wanted to go for a joyride to the past, no one else.'

'Thank you,' James snapped. 'But as I told you not five minutes ago, we wanted to go up to four years back to play a joke on our parents, not to wherever the hell we are now.' James frowned. 'Where are we, anyway?'

'Judging by the look on Professor Longbottom we're in the nineties,' Al said frantically. 'Back to when our parents were in school! You idiots! You couldn't have just left the Time-Turner where you found it, could you?'

James glared at his little brother. 'Why are you blaming us? Louis was the one who pressed the button. If it's anyone's fault as to why we're here, it would be his.'

'I only pointed out that the Time-Turner was broken,' Louis defended himself. 'I didn't know it would take us to the past by pressing it, did I? Normal Time-Turners don't work like that.'

'But this wasn't a normal Time-Turner,' Rose told them, remembering all the things her mother had told her when it came to time travel. 'It was a broken one. Don't you listen to what Mum told you all; broken Time-Turners are unpredictable. That's why you don't touch them,' she added with a glare at James and Fred.

'How were we meant to know it was broken?' Fred questioned hotly.

'Common sense,' Al retorted scathingly. 'You don't think; you never do.' Rose had to agree with her cousin on that, they didn't think. There were too many incidents to count that could back up their claim. But out of everything, this was definitely the worst stunt they'd pulled. Messing with time was a dangerous thing under normal circumstances, but they were back to when their parents were in school. There was no telling what they had landed themselves into.

'What do we do now?' Hugo asked.

An idea struck Rose. They were in the past with no way back unless they received help, but it was finding who to help them which was the problem. She had an idea, and was praying he would believe them rather than mistake them for Death Eaters.

'We're in the nineties, right?' Eight heads nodded. 'Then Dumbledore has to be around. Aren't our parents always telling us he was the most powerful wizard of their time, more powerful than even Uncle Harry? If anyone can help us, it'll be him, right? He'll be able to find a way to send us back somehow.' Rose was glad to hear her voice didn't break; she was more afraid than she'd let on. If Dumbledore couldn't send them back, then she doubted there was anyone alive who could, and it was that thought that caused Rose's blood to run cold. They couldn't be stuck here, they just couldn't.

'There's just one problem with that Rose,' Louis said quietly, 'what if Dumbledore's dead? We have no way of knowing which part of the nineties we landed in.'

'He won't be,' Rose said with more confidence in her voice this time.

'How do you know that?'

'Did you see how young Neville looked? Dumbledore died when he was sixteen. He looks my age more than he does yours. No, Dumbledore is alive and possibly our only hope.'

'Rose is right,' Lucy agreed, sending her a reassuring smile that had the opposite effect on her. 'We have to go see Dumbledore and tell him what's happened.'

'Though, from the stories Dad told me about him, he might already know,' Al added. There was an excited edge to his voice and Rose had a suspicion of why.

'We can't all go, it'd look suspicious, so who's going?' Rose asked, glancing sideways at Al.

'I think these two dimwits ought to stay,' Louis said with a nod at James and Fred.

'If we're staying then so are you,' James said. Fred nodded, both of them were glaring at Louis. Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes at how petulant they sounded.

'I'll stay to make sure they,' Roxy gestured to her brother and cousin with her thumb, 'don't do anything even more idiotic while whoever is going is gone.'

'Your vote of confidence in us is astounding,' Fred drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'I'm your sister,' Roxy reminded him, grinning. 'I know all your tricks.'

'Luce, I think you ought to go,' Rose said to her. 'You're the oldest and the most mature, so he might listen to you more than he would anyone else. And you're quick on your feet, so if we come across a teacher or, even worse, our parents, you'll be able to make something up.'

'I don't think you ought to go alone, though,' Al piped up, his green eyes shining hopefully. 'It might not be a teacher you bump into in the hall. And if something happens, we won't know if you're all right or what's happened if you go alone. So, yeah...' he finished lamely.

Rose smiled knowingly. 'Why don't you go with her?' she suggested, knowing that it was one of his dreams to meet his namesake - both of them. At first Al had hated his full name with a passion, but Rose knew now that Al wasn't so opposed to it anymore, not after he'd heard the entire story of what their parents had to go through to get to where they were now.

'Why don't the three of you go?' James said, sounding rather put out. 'Get out of our hair for a while...' he muttered under his breath, though he wasn't quiet enough for Rose not to hear.

'Okay, so that's settled then; me, Rose, and Al will go.' Lucy turned to James and Fred. 'Please don't do anything stupid while we're gone.'

'We won't,' Fred promised, though, to Rose, it didn't sound sincere.

'This is important, Fred, you cannot be seen, and you cannot do anything that might change the course of history, otherwise we might not be born.'

'Don't be so dramatic -'

'She's not,' Rose said quietly. 'Even the smallest of things might change history. It's important you stay in here while we're gone. Don't let anyone, especially not your parents, see you.'

'What about you three?' James demanded. 'What if you three change something while you're on your way to Dumbledore's office?'

'Out of all of us, who do you honestly think is going to mess up history more?'

James and Fred mashed their lips together, turned and walked away, picking up random items from the side of the room. Rose knew they were being a bit harsh on them, but it had been their fault they were in this mess, though she was glad they had some common sense to try and include them before they decided to go jumping through time. Rose shuddered to think what would have happened if they had ended up here alone. She loved them both, but they were idiots at the best of times. All it would take is one careless, idiotic moment for the pair of them to wipe them all from history.

* * *

'What do you think the password is?' Rose heard Lucy ask from her left as they stared at the unmoving gargoyle. They had been stood outside the entrance to the Headmaster's office for five minutes, attempting to solve the password, but with no success.

'Al, do you have any idea?' Rose asked desperately, glancing down the corridor for any signs of movement. Time really wasn't on their side, and as each minute passed by, they risked getting exposed more and more.

'Um...' Al's brow furrowed as he thought hard. 'Dad told me that all his passwords were sweet-related since he had a fondness for them, but I don't know which it would be, and there could be hundreds of possibilities.'

'It narrows it down, though,' Lucy told him. She turned to the gargoyle. 'Chocolate Frogs.'

The gargoyle remained motionless.

'Sugar Quills,' Rose tried, but with the same amount of success as Lucy had.

'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.'

'He doesn't like them,' Al said suddenly. 'I just remembered...'

'Acid Pops.'

'Cockroach Cluster.'

Surprisingly, the gargoyle sprang to life.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. 'That's his password. They're horrible.'

'Dumbledore must like them,' Al shrugged. He took a deep breath, glancing down the hallway just as Rose had done, before stepping hesitantly onto the spiralling staircase that led the way to the Head's office.

Rose had only ever been in the Head's office once before, but it wasn't because she had been in trouble, but that wasn't to say she was a goody-two shoes and never got into trouble - she'd had detention several times, in fact, but did nothing like her cousins that would warrant a visit to the Headmistress, as it were back in their time. No, the only time she had ever been was because her parents had wanted to show her around during one of their many visits to the school before Rose had even began attending. She had seen the portraits lining the walls, some of them had even applauded as her parents had entered, for reasons which Rose had no idea about until she was eleven. As they neared the top of the stairs, the wooden door coming into her line of sight, Rose's heart began racing again. She was about to meet the man her parents had told her bedtime stories about, the person her cousin had been named for, the legendary Albus Dumbledore.

Al was the first one to reach the top and, much to Rose's surprise, he faltered as he brought his hand up to knock on the door. He turned to face her, looking frantic.

'What do we say to him?' he whispered.

'Leave that to me,' Lucy told him calmly. 'Just knock.'

Al nodded once; Rose could tell he was nervous, even she was and she hardly ever got nervous anymore. But this was the Albus Dumbledore; other than her Uncle Harry, he was known as one of the most powerful wizards ever to have lived. It was rather daunting that she was going to meet him any moment now. She watched as Al raise his hand again and tapped quickly on the door before wiping his clammy hands on his trousers. Rose was about to tell him to knock again when a kind voice from behind the door instructed them to enter.

'Go on,' Lucy whispered in Al's ear.

Rose watched him take a deep breath before pushing the door open. The office was different to the one Rose had seen, but at the same time it was exactly the same. It was one of the only rooms in the entire castle that hadn't needed rebuilding. The only additions Rose could see were the gold instruments lying on Dumbledore's desk - to Rose, they looked quite painful, but at the same time she was eager to learn more about them, and would do if the situation wasn't so dire - and the scarlet and gold Phoenix, which was gawking at them from behind the desk. Rose had heard stories about Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, but she had never seen one before, other than in books she'd read as a child. Fawkes was more beautiful than she could have ever imagined.

And then there was Dumbledore. He was sitting behind his desk, wearing matching robes and hat of a deep purple, and half-moon spectacles, which concealed brilliant blue eyes behind them. As soon as they entered, his eyes darted straight to them. Rose felt like she was being X-rayed and shuddered, moving closer to Lucy instinctively.

'I know every student who has passed through these halls since I became Headmaster,' began Dumbledore, his eyes narrowing as he peered at them over his glasses, causing Rose to feel more nervous than she had done before, 'but I do not recognise you three. Who do we have here then?' His question was more for himself than it was for them.

'Professor Dumbledore - sir,' Lucy started, sounding nervous. She glanced quickly at Rose and Al, before turning back to Dumbledore, clearing her throat. She squared her shoulders, set her jaw, and said, rather bluntly in Rose's mind, 'We're from the future. Our cousins found a Time-Turner that should have sent us four years back, but it sent us at least twenty years back instead. The thing is, our Time-Turner is broken, and we have no idea how we got here in the first place, let alone how to get back home, so we need your help, Professor Dumbledore.'

As Lucy explained their situation, Dumbledore moved around the front of his desk to stand right in front of them. He didn't look particularly shocked at this revelation, though Rose assumed he had seen and heard so much in his life already that a bit of time travel wasn't uncommon to him as it would be to her. His blue eyes roamed over each of their faces, soaking up all he could of their features, no doubt trying to work out who they could possibly be related to. His lips turned up into a small smile as his gaze lingered on Al and Rose. Rose's parents had told her how fond Dumbledore had been of them and Uncle Harry, especially Uncle Harry, when they had all been students here.

'I see,' Dumbledore said casually as though he had just been told about the weather. 'Worry not, dear child; if you can travel here, there must be a way for you to travel back.' He turned to Al. 'I assume, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you must a Potter; you look uncannily smilar to one who currently attends Hogwarts, who, again if I'm not mistaken given the timeline, must be your father.'

Al smiled and nodded. 'I'm Albus Potter,' he said proudly. 'Harry Potter is my father.'

'Albus...'

'I was named after you... and Professor Snape.'

This seemed to shock Dumbledore. 'Professor Snape?'

'Yeah, Dad said he was the bravest man he'd ever known.'

'I'm assuming Harry knows the truth then?'

Al nodded again. 'Yeah...'

Dumbledore nodded once before turning to Rose. 'And you must be a Weasley. The red hair is an unmistakable trait.'

Rose grinned at him. 'I'm Rose Weasley. My parents are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.'

A knowing smile crossed Dumbledore's lips, his eyes twinkling away. Rose couldn't help but continue to grin at him. Her Uncle George had told her how they'd been betting on when her parents would figure out they liked each other and when they'd eventually get together. It had been Bill who'd won that bet. Even old Professor McGonagall, who was a family friend and the previous Headmistress before Babbling, had been at their wedding, and told Rose and Hugo numerous stories about their parents many arguments when they'd been students, and how they had all known they'd get together at some point.

'Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger... hm...' He turned to Lucy next. 'Forgive an old man if he is mistaken, but I'm assuming you are somehow related to Miss Weasley and Mr Potter here?'

'I'm Lucy Weasley,' she introduced herself. 'My dad is Percy.' Lucy frowned. 'I'm not exactly sure what year we're in, sir.'

'It is March twenty-third, ninety ninety-five,' Dumbledore informed them.

Al gasped loudly, his eyes widening to the size of a Galleon. 'March of ninety-five... That must mean the Triwizard Tournament is still going on... That means my Dad hasn't finished it yet... That means _he'_s not back yet! We have to stop it! We have to do something!'

'Al...' Rose began, but he cut her off.

'No! We can't let him finish the Tournament, Rose!' Al looked wildly at Dumbledore. 'Please, Professor, you can't let my dad finish. If he does, Voldemort will return!'

**TBC...**


End file.
